Chiang Mai: Massage Course

A few nights ago we were sat in a restaurant and I noticed one of the posters was advertising a massage course. Up until that point neither of us had considered taking a massage course, but for some reason we suddenly decided that it was a good idea and something we should do whilst in Chiang Mai. The restaurant had WiFi so I browsed a few companies and found one which was both cheap and had good reviews. I emailed with an enquiry before the meal and by the time we paid the bill I had an email confirming a course for Tuesday for the two of us. 890 baht (£16) each for 4 hours was OK we thought. (WiFi in restaurants is a great thing for spontaneous ideas!)

So today was the day we learnt how to massage in the Thai style. It wasn’t too difficult, our teacher would perform a few techniques on one of us whilst the other watched and made notes, then she’d swap so the other could watch. After about 8 massage techniques we would then have to practice on each other.

We learnt pretty well, but our hands and particularly our thumbs are nowhere near strong enough to do it properly. The Thai massage is quite strong and requires strength and stamina and apply lots of pressure through the fingers and maintain that pressure. But for a first attempt we weren’t that bad, we didn’t hurt each other.

A few of the techniques are harder for us because we are bigger than our Thai teacher (and most Thai people in general). She weighed a little over 47kg, whereas we are around the 70kg mark. So when she stands on our legs it’s OK, but when we stand on each others legs it’s a bit more painful. And yes, one technique is for one to lie face down, then the masseur stand on the back of the leg (just above the knee) and bend the feet round the inside of the masseurs legs, then the masseur bends causing the leg muscles to be stretched. She did it with ease and elegance, we did it with neither…